Greetings all,

It's been a while since the last post, I've been pretty swamped with work, and on a more fun note, we've been busy entertaining my wife's brother Mikael and his wife Claire on their first visit to Australia from Scotland, which has been loads of fun!

This is the first time they've met their new nephew Henry, and I think he's been a pretty big hit. He only threw up on Claire once, which in some cultures is considered to be a sign of good luck.... ;)

Now on with today's post:

As a new dad, I've been thinking a lot recently about all the things I'm going to have to teach my son as he grows up. Not just academic stuff, like how to read (which I'm good at) or long division (which his mum will be teaching him!), I'm talking about those special skills that we all learned from our fathers, skills that have been passed down from father to son for generations.

I'm talking about "Dad Skills".

These are the skills that every father should know, and be able to teach to their kids.

Skills like:
- Being able to change a tyre
- Teaching a child how to ride a bike
- How to build a campfire
- How to Shine your shoes properly
- The rules of Capture the Flag
- How to tie a Windsor knot
- How to build a treehouse
- How to hotwire a car...........well, maybe not this one!


Now while writing out a list of the types of skills I'm talking about, I have come to realize that there are a few of them that I need to learn for myself first before I can pass them on.
So I've decided to go on a quest to learn these skills and one day pass them on to my son. If you're thinking calling this a "Quest" sounds a bit OTT, hey, this site is called ADVENTURES in fatherhood, so I'm gonna have a little fun with it!

I'm hoping to make this a series of posts discussing these skills, both how to do them, and about how I learn the skills I don't have yet, and hopefully I'll help others to learn these skills too.

So to start with, I'd like to outline what I believe every dad needs as the bare minimum tools and gadgets to have in his possession before embarking on this quest to learn these skills:


The Dad Skills Tool Kit

• An adjustable spanner

• A set of Allen keys - especially useful if your wife only wants IKEA furniture like mine!
  

• A Philips Head screwdriver
• A Flat Head screwdriver
  

• Pollyfiller, lots and lots of pollyfiller

• Sandpaper
• Duct Tape - To stop things from moving that shouldn't be moving
• WD40 - To make things that aren't moving start moving
  
• A Hammer
• A Pair of Pliers
• A Measuring Tape

If anyone else has any ideas for Dad Skills to learn, or any stories of how you've done something similar to this, I'd love to hear all about them, please leave me a comment.

Stay tuned...

~ Ryan